1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a gallium arsenide FET monolithic waveguide switch capable of providing single pole, single throw switching, generally at waveguide junctions.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Prior art waveguide switches have generally been based upon silicon technology. Silicon PIN diodes have been used successfully as microwave and millimeter wave waveguide switches as described in "Microwave Semiconductor Devices and Their Circuit Applications", H. Watson, Editor, McGraw-Hill, 1969, Chapters 9 and 10, "Microwave Diode Control Devices", by R. M. Ryder et al., Microwave Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 57 to 64, Feb. 1968 and pp. 115 to 122, Mar. 1968, "Microwave Semiconductor Control Devices", by K. E. Mortenson, Microwave Journal, Vol. 7, pp. 49 to 57, May 1964, "Millimeter Wave High Power Solid State Limiter", by A. Armstrong et al., Microwave Journal, March 1983 and "Microwave Silicon Windows for High, Power Broad-Band Switching Applications", by K. E. Mortenson, Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol SC-4, No. 6, Dec. 1969.
Waveguide switches of the type described in the above noted publications require large amounts of current drive and are fabricated on relatively lossy substrates. For system application, it is important to minimize power consumption and maximize RF performance. GaAs MESFETs on the other hand require virtually no drive power and are fabricated on low loss semi-insulating material U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,386 suggests the use of GaAs MESFETs as a microwave switch. However, the use of GaAs MESFETs in monolithic form for waveguide switches has apparently not previously been explored.